72 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the master all the time. They cannot 

 be trusted to unskilled fingers. 



To be successful in this industry, 

 requires not only a knowledge of tlie 

 business combined with good judg- 

 ment, but an interest bordering on 

 enthusiasm. One who thinks bees, 

 talks bees, dreams bees, who never 

 tires of the study, who anticipates 

 their wants, who does the right thing 

 at the right'time, will usually find tlie 

 employment not only fascinating, but 

 reasonably remunerative. 



I close with a quotation from ttie 

 honored Langstroth : " Tliere will 

 never be a ' royal road ' to profitable 

 bee-keeping. Like all other branches 

 of rural economy, it demands care 

 and experience ; and those who are 

 conscious of a strong disposition to 

 procrastinate and neglect, will do 

 well to let bees alone, unless they 

 hope, by their systematic industry, to 

 reform evil habits whicli are well 

 nigh incurable." 



Forest City, 5 Iowa. 



For the Americsin Bee Journul, 



Duty on Honey— Over-Production. 



CHAS. DADANT & SON. 



dredth part of the honey produced 

 that could be consumed. When l.oney 

 can be found by the barrel m every 

 wholesale grocery, and when farmers 

 will buy a keg of honey as they now 

 buy a keg of sorghum, tlien we may 

 begin to call honey a staple. Instead 

 of " crying over spilt milk," let us try 

 to increase the consumption. Let us 

 work, each of us, as Mr. Muth does 

 in Cincinnati, and as Mr. Todd does 

 in Philadelphia ; let us sell the cheap 

 Southern honey to the tobacco manu- 

 facturers, the liquor dealers, the 

 bakers and the confectioners, and let 

 us show the people at large that good 

 honey is just as good as butter, and 

 cheaper. 



If each country were to follow ttie 

 example of America, or rather the 

 ideas of some, and put high duties on 

 honey, then California would have to 

 throw all of her honey on the United 

 States markets, and we could not read 

 such items as the following: 



" San Francisco : A vessel with 

 about 1,0U0 crates and 300 barrels of 

 houey sailed for Liverpool this week." 



Hamilton,to lUs. 



It seems to us that bee-keepers are 

 becoming unnecessarily frightened at 

 the announcement of the abolition of 

 the tariff on Cuban honey. For an 

 indefinite period of time Cuban honey 

 has been imported, not only in the 

 United States, but in all parts of 

 Europe. Some 20 years ago Cuban 

 honey was already quoted on Ameri- 

 can markets at 60 to 85 cents per gal- 

 lon, while the home product was 

 worth from 12 to 2-5 cents per pound. 

 America now produces honey in such 

 quantities that it is quoted in St. 

 Louis at 5 to 6 cents per pound, or 5") 

 to O.) cents per gallon ; and in San 

 Francisco at 3% to 5 cents per pound, 

 or 38 to 55 cents per gallon. Can Cuba 

 beat that '? 



In the course of five years or less 

 the Panama and Nicaragua canals will 

 permit California to bring her honey 

 to New I'ork City for less price than 

 it is now alleged that Cuban honey 

 will sell for, free of duty. Are bee- 

 keepers then going to put a duty on 

 California honey in New Yorkharbory 

 Do they think that they can prevent 

 Louisiana and Texas honey from 

 being produced in such quantities as 

 not to flood the markets as badly as 

 Cuban honey, and at equal prices ? 



Nay ; let honey be as plentiful as it 

 mav. the choice honey of the North 

 and Middle States will always bring a 

 price as high as the very best of 

 sweets, because it is one of the best 

 of sweets. When the duty is removed 

 from Cuban honey, it may cause a 

 temporary rush for this article ; this 

 will only tend to make the home con- 

 sumption more liberal, and our con- 

 sumers will soon learn that there is 

 just as cheap honey in the United 

 States as in Cuba. 



Some bee-keepers write about over- 

 production. Do they mean to say 

 that there is more honey produced 

 than can be consumed V Mistake ! 

 There is not one twentieth, not a hun- 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Filling Frames with Foundation. 



W. 31. WOODWARD. 



Much trouble appears to be experi- 

 enced by some bee-keepers to get 

 frames and sections built and filled 

 clear down to the bottom-bars. I 

 think that I have discovered the 

 cause, and will give a remedy, or 

 rather a preventive. 



Bees are prone to use the bottom- 

 bars of both sections and frames as a I 

 floor, and leave a bee-space for them- 

 selves to travel in. Some three or 

 four years since, I discovered that 

 they would build comb down and 

 attach it to the bottom-bar if it was 

 turned up edgewise, leaving a wide 

 opening and a small space closed 

 beneath by the frame. AVhen I be- 

 gan to use comb foundation, I fol- 

 lowed directions and allowed a little 

 space at the bottom for swelling and 

 sagging. The bees, I found, always 

 took advantage of this arrangement 

 and left spaces at the sides and bot- 

 tom to pass across the combs instead 

 of passing across below the bars. 

 VVhen I began to wire the frames I 

 also cut the foundation the full size 

 of the frame inside, by laying a frame 

 upon every sheet and cutting close all 

 around, but a little under at the top, 

 thus leaving the foundation a little 

 wider. I now turn down one row of 

 cells and lay it in the frame upon the 

 wires, and with a stiff, square-ended 

 knife like a shoemaker's trimming 

 knife, I firmly press the wax to the 

 top-bar. This leaves the bottom a 

 loose fit, but less than J^-inch space 

 below the foundation, and the bees 

 cannot pass through. 



It is well also to make the bottom- 

 bar narrow, sav }4 or % of an inch 

 wide. This will sometimes save their 

 cutting the foundation away below to 

 get through. The best precaution, 

 however, is the use of but few frames 

 at first with swarms ; and I introduce 



but few together in old colonies, and 

 then always between combs well 

 built down. Since I have hived my 

 bees on but three frames, and use full 

 sheets of foundation closely fitted 

 and pressed on wire, I have no trouble 

 to get every comb built clear down, 

 and brood in even the bottom row of 

 cells to the very corners. By a 

 further use of wide-frames, I keep 

 the brood-chamber adjusted to the 

 capacity of the queen— I mean her 

 present want of space— and never 

 have any honev stored in the tops of 

 the frames at all. Uy experience 

 proves that Prof. Cook is mistaken in 

 his opinion that bees always place " a 

 little " honey in the tops of the frames, 

 as he is quoted in a late number of 

 the Bee Journal. I could have 

 shown him 200 or 300 frames last sea- 

 son, and say 25 hives, where not a 

 drop of honey could be found in any 

 frame until September. 



I have used the plan mentioned by 

 Mr. Key, of fastening both top and 

 bottom of full sheets of foundation 

 in sections, with my whole crop dur- 

 ing the past season. With proper 

 care it will be a success every time. 

 It should be put on with a fastener 

 like the Parker foundation fastener, 

 which fastener should be made as 

 wide as will work easily in the sec- 

 tion, so as to fasten a whole end at 

 once. Then keep the foundation as 

 warm as it can be easily handled, 

 when it has been cut to fit loosely to 

 the sides, and about U of an inch 

 longer than the inside of the section 

 up and down. To fasten it, place the 

 bottom of the section on the fastener 

 and lay the sheet down upon it just 

 so as to catch enough to fasten as 

 usual. Now raise the section and 

 reverse by such a motion as will 

 cause the sheet to drop and hang 

 nearly in its place in the section, and 

 by placing it again in the fastener, 

 with the lever slightly raised, it will 

 easily come exactly to the spot to 

 fasten. See that the lever draws it 

 just a little, as it is fastened the 

 last time, and one will soon be able to 

 do a good job. The main point is to 

 stretch the foundation straight all 

 over, and to fasten it when warm, 

 which will prevent any harmful swell 

 or sag in it. The bees will imme- 

 diately fasten the sides, and all is 

 safe. I have several hundred sections 

 on hand now, in which the founda- 

 tion is nicely fastened all around, 

 although not yet drawn out into 

 comb. 



The plan of organizing a bee-keepers 

 protective association, as proposed by 

 Mr. Kendall, would be a grand thing, 

 in my opinion, if made comprehensive 

 enough to cover the condition and 

 marketable shape of honey so as to 

 secure uniformity of style and price 

 of our honey, and drive all "mush 

 honey," etc., out of the market with 

 adulterations; and also to establish 

 something like a uniform rate of 

 profit by retailers. Here, they charge 

 5 cents per pound profit, while I have 

 known it, or at least have heard upon 

 good authority, of its being handled 

 for 1 cent per pound. I do not know 

 what is the usual rate, the country 

 over, but I do know that I can care 



